Whisper Something Fragile
by a-citizen-of-asgard
Summary: Pepper and Tony have been dating for a year now and after a parking valet at a benefit makes a casual mistake, Tony's starting to think about a life with a wedding band around his finger... (Set before Iron Man 3)
1. Part One - The Benefit

**Whisper Something Fragile**

_**PART 1 – THE BENEFIT**_

Leaning against the wall, Tony Stark took in the view in front of him. He was at another one of these boring benefits, he couldn't even remember what it was for this time, and he'd already given his speech but he still 'wasn't allowed to go home to his man-cave' according to Pepper. _'It's not a man-cave…' _he thought to himself for the hundredth time as their earlier conversation replayed in his head and he couldn't stop himself from smiling slightly.

"**Tony hurry up, Happy will be here any minute!" Pepper's voice came from the other side of the bathroom door as Tony stood looking in the mirror trying to get his hair 'perfectly messed up'. **

**With a sigh and a final glance at his reflection, he unlocked the bathroom door and came face to face with a slightly annoyed, but still beautiful, Pepper Potts, "Have I ever told you how cute you look when you're pissed at me?" He asked with that egotistical grin she both hated and loved and she rolled her eyes at him, holding up his tie.**

"**Come here, you're not even properly dressed yet," she sighed and stepped back a little so he could walk out of the bathroom and into the bedroom. As he did he buttoned up the last few buttons on his shirt and Pepper looped his tie around his neck, concentrating on doing it up instead of the way he was looking at her.**

**Staring down at her as she knotted his tie, Tony still couldn't quite believe that they had been an official couple for just short of 12 months. They really had come a long, long way since the first couple of weeks of awkward silences and unresolved sexual tension. That particular line of thought made him smile to himself as he thought about that morning when they'd woken up, he'd kinda promised that he'd let her get up so she could do a final check of her e-mails before she had to get stuff sorted for the benefit, but that **_**might **_**have gone out the window when he got distracted by the smooth expanse of her back as she had sat up… It was safe to say they hadn't made it out of bed for a few hours.**

**He was brought back to the present as she poked his chest to get his attention, "I don't know what you're thinking about, but can you stop so we can actually leave on time for once?" Pepper asked, turning around to pick up his blazer, passing it to him before sitting down on the edge of the bed as she slipped on her shoes.**

"**I was thinking about this morning actually," he smirked and pulled on his blazer, watching as her cheeks turned a delightful shade of pink, "It might have beaten that time in the shower actually," he couldn't stop his smirk from growing into a wider grin as her face turned a shade darker at the memory.**

**She cleared her throat as she stood up and smoothed down the front of her dress, "Yes well, as… amazing, as it was, nothing of that sort will be happening again if we're late for this benefit," she said seriously and picked up her phone, passing it to him so he could slip it into the inside pocket of his jacket. **

"**But Peeeeeppp…" he whined which only earned him a glare from the red head and he pouted at her, "Why do I even have to go, you're the CEO now…"**

**Pepper rolled her eyes at him and stood with her arms folded, "You have to go because I say you do, if you think I'm going to stand there on my own you're very wrong. And anyway I need a plus-one, unless you'd prefer to stay at home in your man-cave and I'll just meet up with someone else once I get there," she shrugged casually.**

**Tony visibly stiffened at that and looked at her with wide eyes, then tried to play it cool by just smiling, "Oh yeah? Who did you have in mind?"**

"**Matt. The one who sent me those flowers on my birthday; he's a really nice guy," she lied, there wasn't really any 'Matt' who'd given her flowers, but she wanted to see his reaction.**

**His expression went from nonchalant to pissed in a matter of seconds, "Matt? I don't know who he is which department does he work for how long have you known him, wait a sec what flowers?!" He rushed and stared at her in shock, then his brain caught up with his mouth and he noticed the slight raise of her left eyebrow and the teasing smirk. Taking a step closer he let his hands come to rest on her hips and held her still, watching her carefully formed expression waver slightly, "Ooh you're gonna pay for that one Potts," he grinned mischievously.**

**She let out a short, nervous laugh and tried to step away from him but he just moved with her, "R-really, how so?" She asked, trying to maintain her casual air, her still folded arms acting like a barrier between them as he inched ever closer.**

"**Well I haven't got it all planned out yet but I'm thinking you might wanna tell Happy not to bother picking us up, we're gonna be late…" he murmured and lowered his head down to lightly kiss her neck, feeling her tense stance slipping a little.**

"**Tony…" she warned half-heartedly, but it was a battle she was losing and she knew she wouldn't be able to stop herself from giving in.**

**Smirking at her rubbish excuse of a warning, he gently bit her neck, not wanting to leave a mark because then she really **_**would **_**be annoyed and he didn't want that, he dipped his tongue into the hollow between her collarbone and neck, feeling her shudder slightly and slid his hands up to her waist, holding her closer to him as he gently nudged her backwards until her legs came into contact with the side of their bed.**

**The feeling of the wooden bedframe hitting the backs of her calves made Pepper's eyes pop open and she pushed him away slightly, "Tony we can't…" She started but then noticed the clock on the bedside table, it showed that they were officially 15 minutes late for Happy, and they'd recently gotten into a routine of 'if we aren't out within ten minutes of when we said we'd be out just don't bother', so she knew he wouldn't be waiting for them still.**

"**Okay whatever, but we can't be long," she murmured and brought her hands up to wrap her arms around his neck.**

**He grinned triumphantly when she gave in and leaned closer to kiss her slowly, revelling in the familiar feeling of her lips moving against his, moving one hand up her back to pull down the zip of her dress, letting the fabric pool around her feet before he picked her up, her legs wrapping around his waist as he laid her down on the bed and held himself above her, "I'm definitely going to make it worth your while Miss Potts, I can promise you that…"**

And now here he was, bored beyond belief and wanting nothing more than to go home. He had lost track of Pepper at some point during the night, she had insisted on 'mingling' with the other people in attendance and he had only caught glimpses of the deep purple floor-length dress she was wearing since then. So when he felt a hand on his arm, he really wasn't expecting it.

"Jesus! Shit Pepper, don't do that," he hissed, his hand against his chest as he waited for his heart to slow down a little.

She just smiled and passed him a glass, "Thought you could do with a drink," she said as she passed him the scotch and leaned in to kiss his cheek, "We can go soon don't worry, once the host is too drunk to stand we can sneak away, and I don't think he's far off," she pointed to a pretty inebriated man on the other side of the room.

He nodded and knocked back his drink in one go, setting the glass down on a nearby table littered with other empty glasses, "In that case, care to dance to pass a little time?" He asked, biting at a piece of ice from his drink. Before she could give her consent or protest, he had her hand in his and was leading her onto the dance-floor.

Pepper sighed as he pulled her to dance, she wasn't really one for doing this at these kinds of events, she preferred to just stand and watch everyone else. But as he turned her to face him, resting his free hand on her waist, she found herself ignoring everyone else in the room, her hand that wasn't clasped in his on his shoulder.

"So, were you enjoying 'mingling'?" Tony asked casually, as they slowly moved in time with the music, he pulled her slightly closer, his hand slipping around to rest at the small of her back and he couldn't help but smirk a little as she almost unnoticeably shivered, but of course, he noticed, just like he noticed her hand tightening on his shoulder minutely and the slight dilation of her pupils as she looked at him.

"Well what do you think? I'm the CEO and it's not hard to tell that everyone here doesn't think I'll can do the job, even though I've been doing it for you for years," she sighed and glanced away from him, 'Way to go ruining the mood Pepper,' she thought to herself, 'Of course he wanted to hear about how oh-so-insecure you feel about this…"

He frowned a little and gently squeezed her hand, "Hey, look at me," When she didn't he just persisted, "Pep, please look at me," Eventually she did and he made sure she didn't look away from him as he spoke, "You are perfectly capable, in fact more than capable of running this company, more so than I ever was or could be," he leaned forward and pressed his lips to her forehead then pulled back with a grin on his face, "And anyway, if they look at you the wrong way you can just fire them."

She laughed at that and rested her forehead against his, "I don't think that'll be happening, we're still trying to recover from when you tried to fire every male who works for the company because you thought they were eyeing me up," she smirked then kissed him softly, ignoring the few murmurs she heard that were directed at them.

"That's because they _were _eyeing you up, I know when a guy is mentally undressing my girlfriend," he reasoned, his fingers gently brushing back and forth against her back.

Rolling her eyes at him she smiled and tucked her head under his, closing her eyes as he kissed her hair and they swayed to the music, content with being this close to each other in public; Pepper could still remember the first few months of their relationship when they'd been trying to keep it a secret from the press and how hard it had been to not be affectionate when they were out.

After dancing for a while, they went over to the bar to get another drink with Tony purposefully keeping his arm wrapped around Pepper's waist, but he was eventually forced to let go of her when she had to go deliver her own speech, heading to the back of the room so he could see her without being crowded by other people.

"…And finally thank you for all of the donations that have been put forward this year, we set a target to pass last year's total funds and I think we can safely say we've set a new record and a new standard to beat next year, enjoy the rest of the night," Pepper smiled and stepped down from the small stage where she'd given her speech, she was starting to get tired and wanted to head home, but she was stopped by people who wanted to talk to her and congratulate her for one thing or another. 'Smile, nod and say thanks,' she told herself, 'Just smile, nod and say thanks…'

Eventually managing to push through the crowds of people to get to the back of the room, she walked over to Tony who smiled softly and held his hand out to her as she came closer.

"Great speech honey, almost as good as mine," he smirked, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead as he lightly squeezed her hand.

Pepper gently punched him in the ribs, "I wrote your speech for you dumbass," she grinned and tilted her head slightly so their lips met, then smiled sleepily, resting her head against his shoulder.

"You're a cruel woman Potts," Tony chuckled quietly and ran his free hand up and down her arm, "Want to head home?" He asked and was answered with a slight nod from the redhead leaning against him; waiting for her to straighten up he kept hold of her hand as they headed for the doors, saying the occasional goodbye to people they passed on their way.

As they waited outside for the valet to bring the car around, Tony shrugged off his suit jacket and draped it over Pepper's shoulders, not wanting her to be too cold as they waited now that the temperature outside had dropped a fair bit. After waiting for what seemed like forever, a young man pulled up with Tony's car.

"S-sorry it took so long Sir, lots of people are asking for their cars," the man said, clearly a little nervous, and passed Tony the keys, "You and your wife could have waited inside, it's quite cold out now…"

"We aren't ma-" Tony started to say but he was cut off by Pepper.

"It's fine, thank you," she smiled at the man and made her way down the steps to the car, getting in and closing the door when she had made sure she wouldn't catch her dress in it.

Trying not to stare too intently at his girlfriend's ass as she got into the car, he turned to the valet with a questioning look on his face, "You thought she was my wife?" He asked, not noticing the young man's utterly confused expression as he grinned widely and went to the driver's side of the car.

'Pepper Stark… has a nice ring to it…' Tony thought to himself, the smile still plastered on his face as he started up the car to head home.


	2. Part Two - The Idea

_A/N: Oh my God, thank you so so much for all of the lovely reviews, I've been smiling non-stop! Luckily I've managed to get this next chapter out quite quickly and I'll try to keep it like that for you guys :) Rhodey and my OC of Pepper's sister make an appearance this time… Enjoy!_

* * *

**Whisper Something Fragile**

_**PART 2 – THE IDEA**_

"Rhodey, do you think Pepper would say yes if I asked her to marry me?"

The Airforce pilot almost spat out the beer he was drinking when his friend asked the question out of the blue, he looked over at him with wide eyes and his mouth slightly agape, "What!?"

Tony simply shrugged and turned back to the War Machine suit in front of him, fiddling with the wires in one of the legs, "You heard me," he said, trying to keep the conversation as casual as possible as he kept working, not sure quite what to make of his best friends reaction to his query.

"Don't you think just asking her would be easier? How the hell would I know if she'd say yes?" Rhodey asked him, leaning forward in his chair as he spoke; he really hadn't been expecting much talking to happen today, he'd just asked Tony if he'd fix some bugs in his suit and take a look at it to see if he could make any upgrades seeing as he was using it a lot more frequently now, and usually that would consist of Tony working, lots of loud music and Rhodey stealing his friends phone when he wasn't looking to see if he could find any decent blackmail material to save for later use. Then again, he should have known that something was different when Tony hadn't asked Jarvis to turn his music on as soon as he'd started working.

"Oh I don't know, maybe 'cause you're supposed to be my friend and you help me when I'm asking questions. Plus you know Pepper pretty well," Tony sighed and reached for a screwdriver from his toolbox, "Jarv' open it up I need to get to the wiring in the left leg and recalibrate some stuff," he muttered to the AI who complied with his command, and the silence that had been hanging over the workshop was momentarily broken as the suit was pulled apart to give the engineer better access to what he needed to fix.

It had been a few days since the benefit when the parking valet had made the small mistake of calling Pepper Tony's wife, and it had been playing over and over in his head all the time since then. When they'd got home that night, he'd not gotten much sleep, instead lying on his side with his arms around his girlfriend as he watched her sleep, a hundred different scenarios running through his head simultaneously; would Pepper say yes if he did ask? Would he be able to even ask her? The commitment of a serious relationship had been a big step for him in the first place when they'd started dating, but marriage was a whole different thing to him.

If they were to get married, they would get even more shit from the press than they did at the moment, and Tony wasn't sure how so much publicity would affect Pepper's answer. She hadn't been too keen on the public side of being in a relationship with the famous Tony Stark, especially given his notorious past as a first class playboy, she hadn't wanted to be viewed as just another conquest that he'd throw away once he'd got what he wanted.

But in spite of that, altering their relationship had been great for both of them, no matter what rumours the media still flung around on occasion. Still, the probability of getting a load of negative press thrown at himself and more importantly for him, at Pepper, was making him of all people, apprehensive.

"Fuck…" he muttered when he stabbed himself with the screwdriver, and he frowned, trying to keep all of his concentration on the suits electrical system instead of his own inner turmoil.

"Tony, I'm being serious, why are you asking me? You didn't bother when you started dating Pepper, so why now?"

Tony sighed and threw the tool back into his toolbox in frustration, getting up and sitting in the chair opposite the other man, reaching for his coffee and running a hand through his hair, "Because I'm terrified, me of all people Rhodey. I have never in my life felt like this before. Yes, when I kissed Pepper that night on the rooftop, I was worried she would slap me across the face and file a sexual harassment lawsuit against me, and yes when I asked her a few days later if a proper, serious relationship was even remotely possible I was scared that she'd say no, but this… this is a whole other type of 'scared'…"

The pilot leaned back in his chair and took a sip of his beer, watching the way his friend did look genuinely scared at what he was saying and thinking, "What's brought this on so suddenly anyway? You weren't like this last time I came 'round."

Explaining what had happened at the benefit; Tony put down his coffee and turned to his desk, resting his elbows on the metal surface and staring blankly at his computer screen, absentmindedly watching the slideshow of pictures, a combination of different cars and photos of himself and Pepper together, some taken by the press and others taken by either themselves or Pepper's family, "And I'm asking you now seeing as she's not here all day because her sister came over and they went shopping, so it isn't like she'd going to walk in and ask what we're talking about."

* * *

Meanwhile, Pepper was sat in Starbucks with her sister Elizabeth, she would have loved to sit outside in the sun, but they'd already had some trouble with photographers following them into shops, so they had decided to sit inside with their drinks.

"So how are things with you and Tony?" Liz asked as she sat down opposite her sister and put their drinks down on the table, rearranging their shopping around her feet as she did.

"Is there something that's making you think there could be something wrong?" Pepper asked with a frown, suddenly worried that her sister had noticed something that she hadn't; she thought everything was fine between them.

Liz shrugged nonchalantly and took a sip of her strawberry and cream frappuccino and pushing Pepper's caramel latte across the table towards her, "You've not spoken about him as much as usual."

"I don't talk about him that much… do I?" Pepper asked, feeling herself blush slightly when her sister just smiled at her, "No, everything's fine, he's been working a lot but then so have I, so nothing different."

"Fair enough," Elizabeth sighed dramatically, having wanted some sort of gossip, which she evidently wasn't going to get, "It's almost your one year anniversary isn't it? Any plans?"

Pepper shook her head, "I haven't spoken to him about it, I doubt he's even remembered, special occasions like that tend to take a back seat when your head's full of schematics for your next Iron Man suit," she said with a smile, it frustrated her when he forgot things like birthdays and anniversaries but it was just one of his traits.

She wanted to do something, she'd even had a dream the other night that they'd gone out for dinner and that Tony proposed to her in the middle of the restaurant, and she didn't know whether to be scared of her subconscious thoughts or if she should tell her boyfriend and see where that conversation went. She was about to ask her sister what she had done with her boyfriend on their one year anniversary, then she remember that Elizabeth had got engaged that day, and after Pepper's last train of thought, she wasn't sure she wanted to bring that up with her sister just yet.

"I'm sure he'll surprise you, I wasn't exactly expecting Tom to propose to me, Tony'll have something planned," Liz assured her, "If not, well, you know what credit card revenge is don't you?"

The older of the two sisters laughed and took a sip of her drink, "Oh I'm very good at credit card revenge, most of the shoes I've brought in the past few months have been a result of it."

Nodding solemnly as if they were talking about the most serious topic ever, Elizabeth took a long drink through her straw and looked thoughtful for a moment, "Have you ever considered Tony proposing?" She asked casually, smirking at her sister's completely shocked expression, "That's a yes then…"

Pepper looked down at the table, her hair hiding her red cheeks, "I haven't thought about it seriously," she mumbled, and finished off her drink, "I just don't see him as the type to want to get married. That's a whole new level of commitment and I don't think he'd want it as much as I would."

She looked up when the loud slurping sound signalled that Liz had finished her drink, "Sorry," she smiled sheepishly at an old couple sat near them who looked at her with a slight air of disgust then turned back to Pepper, "C'mon, let's go take this stuff back to the car then we can go spoil you some more," Liz smiled and looked down, running her hand over her baby bump.

Standing up and picking up most of their shopping, Pepper smiled fondly at her sister, "She isn't even born yet and she has more clothes than I do."

"Now now Pepper, let's not be dramatic about it," the younger sister grinned and took the rest of their bags as the two of them headed out of the coffee shop to go to the car.

* * *

"You'll never know if you just sit there and think about all of the outcomes you don't want to happen," Rhodey said, Tony had gone back to working on his suit after they'd talked for a while, and now the pilot had brought up the topic of proposing to Pepper again.

"I know, but what if she says no? What if she doesn't want to marry me? Given what I was like before what happened in Afghanistan it would make sense for her to think I wouldn't be a great husband," Tony said sadly.

Rhodey groaned in frustration, he couldn't seem to get his friend to see that the probability of Pepper saying no was pretty much zero, "Tony, you've been dating for almost a year now, don't you think if she thought there was any chance of you going back to what you used to be like she'd have broken up with you by now? She knows you better than most people; she did even before she was your girlfriend."

The other man just nodded and looked up at him from where he was sat on the floor, "I know, but my brain keeps trying to freak me out," he said with a weak smile and stood up, brushing his hands off on his dirt-stained jeans, "This should be done by tomorrow," he said, gesturing towards the War Machine armour, "I'm just having Jarvis upgrade some of the firing systems which should take all night."

Standing up as well, Rhodey slapped his friend on the shoulder, "Just ask her, stop being such a wuss Iron Man," he grinned and headed for the door to leave.

Tony rolled his eyes and smirked, and then his gaze travelled over to the locked drawer in his desk, he sat down in his chair and pushed himself over, twisting the combination lock and opening the drawer. After rooting around for a few minutes, he found what he was looking for and pulled out the box, setting it down on his desk and just looking at it for a long while. He eventually found the courage to open it, a wave of nostalgia hitting him as he looked at the contents.

When his parents had been killed in the car crash, he had inherited everything, perk of being an only child, but he'd gotten rid of most of it, selling items or giving them to charities. In the shoebox in front of him were the few things he had kept. 'Pepper, I've been called many things, nostalgic is not one of them…' What he'd said to her the day he asked her to change his arc reactor came to mind and he smiled briefly.

Taking out a few items from the box, a photo of his mother and father when he'd been born, and his father's pocket watch to name a couple, he found exactly what he had been thinking of. Picking up the small box, he opened it and carefully picked up the ring, holding it up so it caught the light. It had been his mother's engagement ring, it had been given to him along with a few other things that his parents had had with them at the time of the crash, but Tony had never thought he'd get it out again. Until now.

He imagined the ring on Pepper's finger and smiled to himself, it wasn't a gaudy design, a simple, clear diamond with two smaller stones on either side set on a gold band. Knowing that Pepper had fairly slim fingers, he checked how big the ring was, he didn't want to have to have it resized after he'd given it to her. 'Hang on a sec… so I'm actually doing this now?' He thought to himself, his hand closing around the ring.

Brought out of his thoughts by the sound of the glass door to the workshop opening, Tony quickly put the ring back into it's box and shoved everything he'd taken out back into the shoebox, carefully putting it back into the drawer and closing it, making sure it locked before he spun around in his chair, "Hey Pep, have fun?"

She smiled and walked over to him, leaning down to meet his lips in a gentle kiss, "I did, did you and Rhodey have fun?"

He nodded and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her down onto his lap and burying his face into her neck, "Missed you," he mumbled and kissed her jaw, well aware of how pathetic that sounded seeing as she'd only been gone for a few hours, "Buy anything nice while you were out?"

Gently trailing her fingers through his hair, Pepper nodded, "Most of the things we brought were for when Liz has the baby, but I got myself a few things that I think you'll like."

Tony lifted his head and looked at her sceptically with an eyebrow raised, "If it's more shoes I'm gonna puke Pepper."

Laughing, she shook her head, "No, no, surprisingly I didn't buy any shoes today. There was a sale on at Victoria's Secret and I went in to see what they had on offer and ended up buying a few new things," she said simply and removed herself from his embrace, standing up and walking over to the door, "I was wondering if I could have your approval on a few sets…" she smiled suggestively as she glanced over her shoulder at him before she headed up the stairs.

He gulped as he watched her walk away, feeling things below his belt starting to stir as several images of Pepper in sexy lingerie started swimming through his mind. Glancing over to the drawer he'd just locked, Tony made a mental note to get the ring out and hide it somewhere else at some point, then stood up and quickly went upstairs, prepared to give his girlfriend his full 'approval'.

* * *

_So that was part 2, I'm thinking of making the next part a little more angsty than fluffy, but if anyone has any ideas feel free to tell me in the reviews :)_


	3. Part Three - The Argument

_A/N: Ahhhh you're all so nice with the reviews :D Thank you so much! Took me a little longer to write this one because I hit a bit of a wall plot-wise, but hugs to Alahna for shoving me back into it. this chapter is a little more angsty than the others, but it's nothing drastic, just making Tony's road to proposing that little bit more bumpy…_

* * *

**Whisper Something Fragile**

_**PART 3 – THE ARGUMENT**_

Two days had passed since Tony and Rhodey had discussed marriage and Pepper down in the workshop, and since then, Tony had decided that he was definitely going to propose to his girlfriend, when, he still had no clue, but he knew he wanted it to coincide with their one year anniversary in some way.

Despite being a self-proclaimed genius – very rightly so to be quite honest – he had absolutely no idea of how to go about making the 'perfect proposal'. He wanted it to be special, memorable, he wanted Pepper to know just how much he loved her and wanted her to be his. Properly his, he knew the only real difference between being in a committed relationship like the one they were in compared to marriage was a piece of paper and a ring, but to be able to _prove _that Pepper was his, that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her was something that he couldn't fathom into structured sentences.

But as well as being utterly clueless as to how to ask Pepper to marry him (alright, aside from saying 'Pepper will you marry me?' _jeez_ he wasn't that dense) he was a little scared. Marrying Pepper would only give his, more than likely, multiple enemies more to use against him, and that possibility terrified him. His 'lifestyle' had already put her in danger, when he had her steal the files from Obadiah, who almost killed her, when she helped him on the racetrack in Monaco and was almost killed and then when she was (again) almost killed by Vanko's bomb infused Hammer drones… He had put her through so much and she'd stuck with him through it all, surely that meant something?

Tony was sprawled across the living room sofa with his personal hi-tech phone in his hand, he'd asked Jarvis to do some research into what he called 'ideal proposals' and it was taking the AI quite a while to pull together enough information to create a substantial file for Tony to steal ideas from, so he was occupying himself with looking through news channels and articles about celebrity weddings, and if he was being honest he was actually scaring himself when he saw how many of these 'perfect' marriages ended within months of the actual wedding. Surely Pepper and himself would last longer than that, wouldn't they? He hoped so, because there wasn't another woman on the whole planet who could replace her, and he wanted to be with her forever, have a family with her and never have to worry about the possibility of her being with another man.

* * *

Just before six that evening, Pepper came home from work, slipping her heels off at the door and setting her bag down on the small table by the wall. She headed into the kitchen to get herself a glass of water, shrugging off her jacket and draping it over the back of one of the chairs at the kitchen table as she pulled out the pins that were keeping her hair in it's perfect bun.

"Jarvis, where's Tony?" She asked absentmindedly as she sipped at her drink, sighing quietly as the cool liquid ran down her throat.

"Mr Stark is currently in the living room Miss Potts, shall I alert him of your return home?"

"Please," she murmured and drained the rest of her water, putting the now empty glass into the dishwasher, and then going back to where she'd left her bag to collect her phone before she went through to the living room.

* * *

"Mr Stark, Miss Potts has arrived home," The sound of Jarvis' voice startled Tony a little, having been sat in silence for most of the day when he hadn't fallen asleep mid news article.

Panicking, Tony fumbled with his phone to try and close down everything he'd been looking at, glancing up at the ceiling as he spoke, "You breathe a word about what I've had you researching and I'll fuck you up one glitch at a time, got it Jarv?"

"Understood Sir, may I briefly add that the file you have requested me to compile is 83% completed."

"What file would that be?"

Tony almost fell off of the sofa when he heard Pepper's voice and he quickly shoved his phone into his pocket, smiling at her a little too innocently, "Oh nothing, just something I'm working on for a later date," he said, waving a hand dismissively and then gesturing for her to come over to him.

She narrowed her eyes at him as she walked over, but didn't say anything, for now anyway, "Alright," she sighed and she practically collapsed onto the sofa next to him, leaning into his side as he draped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer.

"So how was work?" He asked casually, or as casually as he could, if Pepper found out what he was planning and exactly what Jarvis was putting the file together for, everything he was planning would be ruined, he was already worried about having to keep this a secret from her for several days, he knew how she felt about keeping secrets, and if she found out the consequences would be bad. Worse than 'sleeping on the sofa bad' as well.

Pepper groaned slightly and tilted her head to kiss his jaw, "Could have been better, there's been an influx in employee resignations so I've been signing papers all day and trying to sort out interviews for new staff," She didn't really want to talk about work, she was feeling more than a little stressed just recently and she didn't want to have to think about it if she didn't have to, and seeing as she was home now, she _really _didn't want to, "So… what's this file you've got Jarvis working on?"

Getting nervous again, Tony shrugged and avoided looking down at her, his hand trailing up and down her arm, "It's nothing, just some Avengers stuff…" He lied.

Frowning, she sat up, shuffling away from him slightly and folding her arms, "Well if it's nothing I'm sure you can tell me, usually you can't wait to break all of SHIELD's confidentiality rules and tell me what you're doing," she said, starting to feel a little annoyed, "What aren't you telling me Tony?"

"There's nothing to tell, now come back over here, I've missed you all day," he pouted slightly, trying to divert her attention and get away from the current topic of conversation, worried that everything was going to go horribly wrong.

Refusing to come any closer, she stayed where she was, her arms a stubborn barrier between them, "So you're keeping secrets now?" She asked quietly, though it sounded more like a statement than a question, just a hint of ice in her voice.

He stayed silent, he couldn't exactly say 'no' because that would be lying, and she already knew he was lying about the file being an 'Avengers thing' so why dig himself an even deeper hole? He looked down at his lap, suddenly very interested in a particular oil stain on the denim of his jeans.

"Why? What's so important that you have to keep it from me, that I can't know about it?" She asked as calmly as possible, though her careful composure was starting to slip as she got more and more angry with him.

"I just can't tell you okay!? It would ruin everything!" He exclaimed and finally looked up at her, feeling a little bad for such a forceful outburst when he saw her expression; a mixture of both anger and upset, "It's okay Pep, it's nothing for you to get yourself worked up over," he tried to reassure her.

"You know what Tony? I'm having a hard time believing you," she said coldly and stood up, standing on the other side of the coffee table, "Remember last time you kept a secret from me? Hm? Remember that time when you were _dying _and you didn't tell me?!" Pepper was close to being full on hysterical by this point, running a hand through her hand, further giving away her agitation, "Is there something wrong with you? The new reactor?" She was trying not to completely flip out at him, but was finding it harder and harder not to do so with each passing moment.

The billionaire winced as she brought up the memory of his palladium poisoning, and he looked away, feeling guilty. Yes he should have told her he was dying, but he couldn't find it in himself to give her news like that, especially when he found out his condition was deteriorating at such a fast rate due to the use of the Iron Man suit, she would have killed him with her own bare hands if he'd told her.

"Are you going to tell me or not!?" Pepper almost yelled, staring at him from where she stood, and Tony could see in the soft glow of the living room lights that there were tears building up in her eyes.

He gazed up at her, his expression desperate for her to understand that he couldn't say anything, "Pepper please believe me, I can't tell you right now, everything I've been working on would be for nothing and-"

She cut him off with a harsh laugh, shaking her head and looking away from him, only just holding back the tears that threatened to spill as each moment passed, "I get it Tony," she said flatly and turned to leave the room.

"Wait!" He called after her and scrambled off the sofa, lightly grabbing her arm and trying to get her to face him, "It's not that I don't want to tell you, I really, really do, but right now isn't the right time, I promise you, you'll find out soon enough but right now can we please not fight Pepper, I hate fighting with you…"

Pulling her arm from his grasp, she just looked at him, her expression indecipherable, and she shook her head, "I don't like fighting either Tony, but I can't act like I don't care that there are things you aren't telling me," she said quietly, "Make sure you have something to eat, I'm gonna sleep in one of the guest bedrooms tonight," she mumbled as she left the room to lock herself away in her home office.

Watching her walk away, he clenched his fists and had to seriously restrain himself from punching the nearest wall.

"Sir, the file is completed-"

"Shut the FUCK UP Jarvis!" Tony shouted at the AI, glaring at the ceiling out of habit and making his way down to the workshop, it was the only pace he could think to go where he would be able to stay somewhat sane. On his way down he pulled his phone out of his pocket, dialling his best friend's number as he pushed the door open and went to collapse in the chair at his desk.

"_**Hey Tony, what's up?" **_Rhodey's voice came through from the other end of the line loud and clear.

"Everything's gone wrong, Pepper found out that I'm planning something and I can't tell her that I'm planning on fucking proposing to her that ruins the whole point of everything that I'm doing to make it a surprise for her, we've had a fight and she won't speak to me she's sleeping in a different room tonight, shit Rhodes what do I do?!" Tony rushed through explaining the reason behind his call, setting his phone down on his desk as he clicked the button to turn it on speaker-phone, running both hands through his hair.

"_**Woah, woah, calm down Tony… Okay, let me give her a call, I'll see what I can do," **_the pilot said from the other end of the phone, genuinely worried about his friend's current state of mind.

He didn't answer, just ending the call and letting his head drop to the desk, why hadn't he been more careful? Why did he let there be even a small risk of Pepper finding out that he was hiding something? He didn't know if their fight had been bad to the point of a possible break up or if they could put this behind them, and the idea of losing Pepper because he'd been so reckless and caused her to doubt him just about killed him.

* * *

Some hours later, he wasn't exactly sure how many, just that time had passed and he hadn't moved from his spot with his head on his desk, he heard the door to the workshop open and the soft sound of bare feet on the concrete, getting closer with each passing second.

He felt a hand rest against his shoulder and flinched slightly, lifting his head and turning slightly to see Pepper stood behind him, "Hey," he mumbled before he let his head drop to the metal table again.

"Tony…" She murmured softly and shook his shoulder gently, trying to get his full attention, "Rhodey called me… he explained…"

He lifted his head instantly and whirled around to face her, 'Great everything really _is _ruined now…' he thought to himself and swallowed hard as he looked up at her from where he sat, "Wh-what did he t-tell you…?"

"He told me that you were planning something for our anniversary, he wouldn't tell me exactly what but he said that's why you've been so secretive about it because you don't want me to find out what you're planning for the day," she said quietly and pulled her hand away from his shoulder, wrapping her arms around herself, the atmosphere was still a little tense between them and she didn't quite know what to do with herself, their argument earlier had been the first for a few months and it felt really strange to her.

Tony let out a sigh of relief that he hoped didn't make Pepper any more suspicious than she already had been, technically that wasn't the whole truth, but it the point was, it _was _the truth, so he didn't feel bad for lying because he wasn't, and he felt he could sort of live with that for now. He smiled a little and nodded, "Yeah, I was having Jarvis look up some restaurants and things because I want to make the day really special and I wanted to surprise you that morning but y'know…" He trailed off and looked down at the floor.

Pepper's lips twitched as she fought back a smile and she leaned down to gently kiss the top of his head, "Well I'm going to leave you to it. Whatever you're planning I'll wait to find out."

He looked up at her and reached out for her hands, pulling her to stand closer in front of him, "So are you still going to sleep in one of the guest rooms to punish me?" He asked, his smile growing a little when she shook her head.

"No, but I'm going to punish you in a different way," she smirked when his smile changed into a frown, seeing a glint of worry and apprehension in his eyes, "You're going to have to spend the night in the same bed as me, but with no physical contact."

Rolling his eyes, he let go of her hands and stood up, "Pfft, I can do that…" Right now he didn't give a damn what 'punishment' she threw at him, because in all honesty it wasn't much of a punishment, he was just glad that his engagement plans were still secret, he just hoped she wouldn't somehow work out his plans within the next week before he put them into action.

"You keep telling yourself that Tony, you keep telling yourself that."

* * *

_A/N: So that was part three, don't worry, the next part is back to your regularly scheduled fluff, and the proposal is drawing ever-closer people :) Please remember to leave a review, it really helps to know it's actually worthwhile writing this_


	4. Part Four - The Preparation

_Okay, so the time for Tony to pop the question is reeeaally close :P Just this one chapter and then part five will reveal what this fic has been leading up to…_

* * *

**Whisper Something Fragile**

_**PART 4 – THE PREPARATION**_

Pepper woke up at 8 o'clock on Friday morning as Jarvis' programming prompted him to wake her when she didn't wake of her own accord earlier. Her eyes blinked open and as she tried to push away the fuzzy-headed feeling that accompanied just waking up, she noticed a considerable lack of warmth and solid body behind her. Rolling over she sighed when she saw that Tony's side of the bed was empty, they'd fallen asleep together the night before, him holding her almost protectively to his chest, but it seemed that something more important had taken him. And by that she guessed he'd be, as he put it 'tinkering'.

Forcing herself to get up, Pepper dragged herself to the bathroom, getting undressed and stepping into the shower, hoping that the water would wake her up and help to relax her somewhat before another gruelling day of meetings and interviews distracted her from everything else that was happening around her. Not that she was complaining, being CEO had its perks, it was much easier to just run the company herself instead of running it _for _someone because they were 'too busy' with other things, and she supposed in some ways she enjoyed it…

After just standing still under the warm stream of water for a while, she finished her shower, quickly washing her hair and body before exiting the shower, putting on her fluffy bathrobe as she dried her hair and did her make-up; Pepper tied back her hair and went back into the bedroom to get dressed before making her way downstairs to wait for Happy to come and pick her up. Pulling up her schedule on her phone she frowned when she was greeted with a blank screen. In an attempt to get her timetable on the screen she refreshed the page, but still nothing came up.

Exasperated, she glanced up at the ceiling out of habit when she spoke to the omnipresent AI, "Jarvis? Something's up with my phone, could you read out my schedule for the day?"

"Of course Miss Potts," and there was a moment of silence before Jarvis continued, "It appears that your schedule has been cleared for today."

'That can't be right,' she thought to herself, 'I'm supposed to have two separate meetings with the board plus those interviews for new R&D personnel…' Then something clicked in her head, the word 'cleared' repeating over and over. She narrowed her eyes and got up, heading for the stairs to Tony's workshop.

* * *

"Is it sorted?" The billionaire asked absently as he tweaked the wiring in the gauntlet of the suit in front of him.

"Yes sir, though may I say that Miss Potts is becoming increasingly suspicious regarding her suddenly very empty work schedule," Jarvis said, just a hint of a warning beneath his crisp English accent.

"Yeah, yeah, she'll thank me for it later Jarv, trust me," Tony smirked, wincing slightly when he burned his finger with the soldering iron.

"She is also making her way down the stairs to the workshop at this moment."

"Shit!" Tony dropped everything he was holding and in his scrambled attempt to pick everything up again, banged his head on the edge of his desk, "Oww…" he complained, "Jarvis, if you breathe one word about anything and you know what I mean by _anything, _I will do something as horrific as I can think of to your server, got that?" He muttered, holding his head where he'd hit it as he heard the glass door that separated him from the rest of the mansion being opened and the ever familiar sound of hundred dollar heels clicking against the concrete floor.

"Tony, do you happen to know the reason why my meetings and interviews for today seem to have been postponed?" Pepper asked casually, walking over to stand beside his desk, her arms folded across her chest and a look of slight annoyance gracing her features.

He smiled up at her sheepishly, "I might know something about that," he admitted, still rubbing his head as he got up from where he knelt on the floor to sit in his chair, spinning it around to face her.

She groaned and tilted her head back, closing her eyes as she fought back the urge to explode, "I am CEO of the company Tony you can't just cancel my entire day whenever you feel like it!"

"Technically I didn't, it was Jarvis," he pointed out and stood up to close the gap between them, putting his hands on her shoulders, "You work too hard," he kept talking when he saw she was about to make a comment, "Pep I hate it when you work too hard, you know that, I just want you to have the day off."

"I have the entire weekend off every week, and speak for yourself, you're down here pretty much 24/7, I don't think I've woken up with you still in bed with me once in the past week, do you have any idea how that makes me feel?!" She asked, frustrated that Tony seemed to be oblivious to her side of the story.

Sighing, he looked away from her, frowning slightly, "I know… that's kinda why I did this…" He pulled away from her and sat down in his chair again, leaning forward slightly and resting his forearms on his knees.

She stayed where she was, an eyebrow raised as she looked down at him, "Well? Care to explain?"

He avoided her gaze and looked down at the floor, "I had Jarvis clear your schedule because I wanted to spend the day with you," he admitted, "I knew that if I just mentioned it to you, you'd blow it off because of work. So I did it without you knowing. I came down here because I was waiting for you to wake up, and you know I get fidgety when I'm just lying in bed doing nothing, _someone _was supposed to tell me when you got up…" he muttered, glaring at the ceiling for a moment before lowering his gaze again, still not looking at her.

Pepper's eyes softened at his confession, and she walked over to him, putting her hand under his chin to lift his head so he was forced to look at her, "Tony, I have the weekend off, couldn't you have waited until tomorrow?" Her voice was gentler now, though she was still a little annoyed, but she hid that well.

Tony shook his head, "Have you of all people forgotten what day it is today Pepper?" he asked, a little shocked that she had.

She was silent for a moment as she thought for a moment, then her eyes went wide with realisation and she stared down at him, "Oh. My. God… It's our anniversary…"

He nodded and just watched her, not sure if he should say anything, she was most definitely in shock that she'd forgotten such an important date, he didn't think she'd ever forgotten an important date in her life.

Leaning against his desk, she covered her face with one hand, "Jesus, how could I forget?" She groaned, and she sighed when she felt her boyfriend stand up and wrap his arms around her.

"Well if you still want to go into work you can," he said, even though it would be a bit pointless seeing as everything had been moved to a different date.

She uncovered her eyes and tilted her head back to look at him, "What did you have planned?"

"You're going to want to change into something more casual."

* * *

After changing into jeans and swapping her blouse for a plain t-shirt, Pepper went through to the kitchen where Tony was waiting for her with a mug of coffee, "So what are we doing or is it still a secret?" She asked, walking over and taking the coffee from his hand as he held it out to her.

"Well, seeing as I plan on taking you out for dinner tonight, I thought you might like to do a little dress shopping," he grinned and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her to him as he drank his own streaming drink, "And obviously I have to be there because I have to approve of said dress."

"Obviously," she smirked, "What about after that?"

His grin widened a little and he kissed her temple as he put down his now empty mug, "You'll just have to wait and see won't you," he murmured, and with that he plucked her phone from her pocket and turned it off, tossing it onto the counter and grabbing her hand, pulling her out of the kitchen and then out of the front door, despite her protests and threats about if he had broken her phone.

Two and a half hours of being dragged through shop after shop, and Tony was starting to regret this particular part of his little plan. They had been to countless shops and Pepper had tried on seemingly hundreds of different dresses, but she still couldn't decide what she wanted, even though he told her she looked stunning in all of them, which she did.

"Tony?" She called from the other side of the dressing room curtain.

"Yes sweetheart?" He stood up from the little stool he was sat on against the wall opposite the dressing room, leaning against the wall.

She pulled the curtain aside and smiled at him, "This one," she said, turning her back to him to face the mirror on the other side of the small dressing room, looking at her reflection with a satisfied expression.

Pushing himself away from the wall, Tony moved to stand behind her, looking over her shoulder at her reflection. She looked amazing, (though he couldn't recall a time when she didn't) the dress was a deep midnight blue colour that reached to her knees with elbow-length sleeves, the collar scooping just low enough to showcase her collarbones but nothing else. There was a smattering of clear diamante crystals along the collar and the cuffs of the sleeves, nothing too flashy, but enough that it made the dress more interesting and less plain.

He smiled and took a step closer to her, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder as he looked her up and down in the mirror, "You look absolutely beautiful," he murmured and kissed along her neck and up to her ear, kissing the spot that made her close her eyes momentarily and shiver, "Beautiful…" he repeated softly.

Pepper smiled and turned her head to him, coaxing him into a gentle and loving kiss. Pulling back to rest her forehead against his after a moment, she spoke, "Let go of me then and we can pay for this."

Tony pouted but reluctantly unwound his arms from around her waist and was then greeted by the curtain being drawn to shield his view, rolling his eyes he smirked and leaned against the wall again, "When we're done in here, d'you want to grab a coffee? I don't know about you but I have been seriously drained from all of this shopping."

The curtain was pulled aside again and she stepped out dressed in her jeans and t-shirt again, the dress on the hanger and held in her hand, "Ah Tony, you are weak when it comes to the ways of shopping," she sighed dramatically and took his hand with the one that wasn't holding the dress, leading him over to the cash register, where he insisted on paying for the dress.

"Right then," she smiled as they walked out of the shop hand in hand again, Pepper carrying the bag holding her dress in her other hand, "Coffee?"

* * *

45 minutes later they were back at the mansion, having come straight home after spending half an hour in a coffee shop at the mall. The couple were now cuddled up on the sofa in the living room, Tony had gotten Jarvis to put a film on for them to watch and kill some time before heading out for their meal later on. He paid very little attention to the movie, instead focussing on the woman curled up next to him with her head against his shoulder, gently running his hand through her hair.

When the film finally finished Pepper sat up and stretched, yawning slightly. Tony grinned when her actions caused her top to rise up a little, exposing her stomach, and he couldn't stop himself from reaching over and brushing his fingers over the exposed skin, chuckling lightly when she jumped as his hand crept further under her t-shirt and closer to her hyper-ticklish ribs.

"Tony Stark I will _kill _you if you even try to-"

"Relax, relax I wasn't going to," he smirked and withdrew his hand, he'd found out very early on in their relationship that Pepper was ticklish as hell, and he had non to often exploited that knowledge since discovering so. Instead, he put his hand at the back of her neck and pulled her in for a deep, slow kiss, breaking off after a while and glancing at his watch, "Made reservations for six so we should probably start getting ready."

She nodded and stood up, holding her hands out to him to help him stand and pulling him up the stairs to their room. Deciding he didn't need a shower, he'd taken one early that morning while Pepper had been asleep; Tony was ready pretty quickly, changing into a simple suit, his dark shirt and tie enough to hide the light from the reactor. Pepper was still in the bathroom when he was finished, and he called through to tell her he'd be downstairs waiting, how she took so long he'd never understand.

Acknowledging him by replying that she wouldn't be too long, Pepper looked at herself in the mirror and set about sorting herself out. She'd showered again but quickly, she dried her hair and let it stay in loose, natural curls as she re-did her make-up, taking her time to make sure it was as perfect as she could get it before heading into the bedroom to get changed into her new dress, keeping jewellery to a minimum.

Downstairs, Tony looked at the clock for what felt like the millionth time, it read just after 5.45 PM, he sighed and plopped down on the sofa, he usually never minded if they were late, hell he was usually the one making them late, but tonight he really wanted everything to go as smoothly as possible. Hearing the sound of heels on the stairs, he lifted his head, jaw going slack at the sight before him. He stood up a little unsteadily, walking over to her and just… staring.

Pepper blushed slightly as he openly gawked at her, which caused him to break out into a smile, the one he only ever gave her. She walked over to him and looped her arm through his when he offered it to her, heading out of the mansion to Tony's car.

* * *

_We're almost there, so be prepared for lots of fluff and Tony being… well, Tony :) Please review!_


	5. Part Five - The Proposal

_A/N: DUN DUN DUN! __The time has arrived, hold on for a heck of a lot of fluff coming yo' way people !_

* * *

**Whisper Something Fragile**

_**PART 5 – THE PROPOSAL**_

It was a quiet 15 minute drive to the restaurant where Tony had gotten Jarvis to make reservations for them that night. When they arrived, a few minutes early despite the time Pepper had taken to get ready, Tony killed the engine and climbed out of the car and made his way around to the passenger side, opening the door and holding his hand out, "We're here gorgeous," he smiled.

Taking hold of his hand as she got out of the car, she returned the smile as she leaned towards him and kissed him gently, then turned to the restaurant as she shut the car door and he locked it, slipping his keys into the inside pocket of his blazer, "You really went all out with this didn't you," she said as she took in the lavish style of the Italian restaurant they headed towards.

"Well today is a very special day," he shrugged, lightly squeezing her hand as they walked towards the front doors, trying not to let how nervous he was show, he could feel the box containing his mother's ring practically burning a hole in his pocket, and he was praying to practically every deity he could think of that dinner would go smoothly and the rest of the night would follow suit.

Getting to the door, they were greeted enthusiastically by a waiter, and Tony glanced at Pepper before looking back at the man in front of them, "Ho una prenotazione per due persone con il nome di Stark (I have a reservation for two under the name Stark)," he said, smirking when he felt Pepper's hold on his hand tighten, her nails digging ever so slightly into the back of his hand as he spoke. He'd found out during one particularly intense night in bed that hearing him speak Italian turned Pepper on something furious, and he loved making her all flustered in public, watching her try and control herself was always interesting to see, so he'd taken the time to check whether the workers in the restaurant were actually Italian, and had been pleasantly surprised to find out that they were.

After checking the reservations book on the table in front of him, the waiter led them over to a secluded booth at the back of the restaurant, and Pepper was glad that it was fairly private, even after a year, she wasn't fully comfortable with being the centre of attention every single time they went out in public. They sat down and the waiter took orders for their drinks, leaving the menus so they could decide on what they wanted.

"I should have expected you to break out the Italian charm shouldn't I?" She said as she opened the menu and took her time looking through the list of different meals presented.

"Well yeah, you know how much I like to see you flustered," he grinned and reached across the table to take hold of one of her hands as he looked down at his own menu.

"Hm," she smiled wryly, looking up when the waiter came over and set their drinks down, getting out the small notepad from his shirt pocket to take their orders.

"What're you having honey?" Tony asked, usually he'd order for her, in Italian obviously, but he decided to keep it to a minimum, he didn't want to make her flustered to the point of getting angry at him for it.

Flicking through the menu for a couple of moments longer, the redhead looked up at the waiter with a smile, "I'll have the mushroom and spinach risotto." The waiter nodded and wrote down her order, leaving the couple alone again after Tony ordered his pesto and tomato pasta, taking the menus with him.

Their fingers still entwined, Tony rested his head in his free hand and smiled as he looked at his girlfriend. The soft lighting in the restaurant complimented her skin tone amazingly, the light dusting of freckles across her nose more prominent and the colour of her hair more deep and vibrant. Over the past year he'd seen her in so many different states, mascara-stained and red-eyed after a fight, sweaty and tired after sex, peaceful and content the morning after… He'd seen her all made up for a benefit or gala and he'd seen her bare of make-up and messy haired in front of the coffee machine. In every single circumstance though she looked beautiful to him, and every single time he saw her he thought of how lucky he was and how maybe, just maybe, all of this was finally a reward for the decidedly rough journey it had taken him to get this far and overcome everything that had happened in his life over the past couple of years.

He watched as she reached for her drink with her free hand and lifted the glass to her lips, taking a sip of her wine before setting it down again; glancing up, she noticed him looking at her intently, "What are you looking at?" She asked, feeling self-conscious all of a sudden.

Smiling softly at her he ran his thumb back and forth across her knuckles and then lifted her hand to kiss the inside of her wrist, just against her pulse, "Perfection," he murmured simply as he kept his gaze locked on her beautiful blue eyes.

Pepper's face heated up at the intensity and sincerity in his eyes and voice, looking down at the table to try and hide her face until the blush receded, but he let go of her hand to lift her head back up with his finger under her chin and she was forced to meet his eyes with her own, she had to really work hard to fight back the urge to lean over and kiss him, knocking over their drinks and making a mess would be both very embarrassing and unattractive.

* * *

They talked casually as they waited for their food, Pepper telling him little snippets about things regarding the company and Tony giving a little information about his work on the suits, but there seemed to be an unspoken agreement between the two of them to keep those particular conversations short and vague, neither of them wanted to ruin the evening by talking about work. He kept telling her how wonderful she looked just to watch as her cheeks flushed pink each time, only to get flustered himself when she turned the tables and started telling him how damn sexy he looked in that suit.

Eventually, their dinner arrived and they thanked the waiter as he set their plates down in front of them, ticking into the delicious food straight away.

"This place is really nice," Pepper smiled at him as they ate, glancing around the restaurant, it was quiet, the tables weren't awkwardly close together, and it was a nice, welcoming environment, "We should come back some time."

"I'd like that," he returned the smile and loaded his fork with pasta and offered it to her, "Try some?"

Leaning forward she ate the pasta, sitting back as she swallowed, "Mmm, nice… I'd offer you some of this but we both know how you feel about mushrooms," she said, smirking at the face of pure disgust he pulled accompanied with a glance at her plate, chuckling softly at his low murmur of 'they're rubbery and squeaky and yuck'. "You're such a child," she grinned as she carried on eating her dinner.

"Shut it Potts," he mumbled, but smiled as he looked down at his pasta and continued eating.

Finishing their meals after not too long, Tony wiped his mouth with a napkin and looked over at her, "Want dessert?" He asked, drinking what was left in his glass and picking up the dessert menu that was propped up against the wall on the far-side of the table.

"Sure," she smiled and sipped at her wine, watching as he stood up and went over to the bar to order something, they always shared dessert when they went out for meals, mainly because Tony like being all romantic and recreating the scenes from those rom-coms Pepper liked to watch so much by feeding her, which was cute, but he always ended up purposefully getting it on her nose or cheeks just to annoy her.

When he came back over to their table, carrying another glass of scotch for himself in one hand and another glass of wine for her in his other, she put their empty glasses to one side out of the way along with their now empty plates, her inherent 'neat-freak' behaviour kicking in as he sat down and she took her drink from him, "What did you order?" She asked.

"Chocolate and coffee liquor trifle," he responded, which earned a nod from his girlfriend and possibly, soon-to-be fiancé, 'Oh God don't think about that right now, just concentrate on dinner…' He thought to himself.

Their dessert arrived after only a five minute wait, which made sense seeing as these sorts of desserts were made well in advance before the restaurant started serving, and Tony passed Pepper one of the spoons so they could start eating. While they did he felt her slide one foot between his, she must have slipped her stiletto off, and pretty soon their legs were tangled under the table, exchanging gentle nudges and caresses as they shared the food.

* * *

Finishing the food after a while, they sat and chatted for a few more minutes before the waiter came over with the bill, which Tony paid in spite of Pepper's protests, making sure to leave a healthy tip before holding his hand out to Pepper and they walked outside to the car with their fingers interlocked. It was dark now and he couldn't stop himself from thinking how the moonlight made her pale skin glow, shaking his head to clear his mind, he held the passenger side door of the Audi open for her, then walked around to the driver's side and jumped over the door to get in, smiling sheepishly when she rolled her eyes at him, getting his keys out of his pocket and starting up the car.

Arriving back at the mansion, they both got out of the car but instead of heading inside, Tony walked over to Pepper and took hold of her hand again, "I want to do something," he said with a smile, leading her out of the garage and back outside.

"Um, okay, but why outside?" She asked, a little confused by his actions.

"Moonlit stroll along the beach, that's why," he grinned, hoping that he was hiding how damn nervous he was, he really didn't want to give anything away before it happened and ruin everything the night had been building up to.

She smiled and stopped walking, causing him to stop as well and turn to frown at her, but she pulled him closer to press her lips to his in such a loving and tender way he thought he was melting, "You're such a hopeless romantic," she murmured happily against his lips.

"Sh, I don't want people knowing I'm so soft," he joked, kissing her once more before dragging her along to the path that wound down the cliffs to the beach. During his intricate planning of how the night was going to pan out, he'd had Jarvis check what time high tide was, and luck was in their favour because the tide was on its way out now, so they wouldn't get swept away.

When they got to the path, Pepper slipped her heels off and Tony picked her up, carrying her all the way down to the beach, he didn't want her breaking her ankle trying to walk on such an uneven surface in four inch heels but he didn't want her walking barefoot on the path either, and only set her down again when they got to the sand.

They walked hand in hand along the shoreline for a while in silence, Pepper holding her shoes in her free hand, just enjoying the simplicity of the moment and the cool breeze that rolled in off the sea. Eventually though, Tony took a deep breath and stopped walking, turning Pepper to face him, taking her shoes from her and setting them down carefully on a rock nearby so her could take hold of both her hands. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he started talking before she could ask what was going on.

"Pepper, I never thought I could be as happy as I am now. I always cared about you, right from when you started work as my PA, you were different, you didn't take the job just to get in bed with me, you put up with my shit, when I gave the company over to you, you handled everything amazingly, I could never do what you do…

Everything I've put you through, Stane, becoming Iron Man, not telling you about the palladium, the um, whole fucked up mess at the Expo, and then New York… You could have left at any point during that, especially before we started dating but for some reason you didn't and I can't for the life of me think why, I'm hell to live with and you of all people know that first hand, I have annoying habits and do stupid things without thinking about what will happen before I do them, like when I blew up the toaster last month… FUCK! Damn it I've messed this up completely, why the hell did I bring _that _up?" He groaned, but was reassured by the soft giggle that came from the redhead he was holding hands with that he could redeem himself if he was quick enough, "Pepper you mean the world to me and I um, honestly don't think I'd be able to survive without you now, you give me a reason to live, something to love and a uh, purpose in life…"

He inhaled and exhaled slowly then let go of her right hand and reached into his pocket, pulling out the box containing his mother's engagement ring, flipping the box open with his thumb and getting down on one knee in front of her.

The whole way through his little speech Pepper stood frozen, not sure what to think, just listening as he poured his heart out to her, and when she saw the ring box in his hand, she could feel her heart pounding dangerously fast in her chest, staring down at him as he looked up at her and shining brown met brilliant blue.

"Virginia Potts, I want to spend the rest of my life with you… will you… will you marry me?"

There was a long silence as Pepper let everything sink in, and Tony was starting to worry that this had all been for nothing when she smiled happily, tears in her eyes as she nodded, "Yes Tony, yes of course I'll marry you!"

His wide smile mirrored hers as he stood up and slid the delicate ring onto her slim finger, roughly shoving the box back into his pocket before wrapping his arms tightly around her slim waist as hers wound around his neck, pulling her body flush against his as their lips claimed each other's, tasting wine and scotch and chocolate as their tongues met in a gesture that was so familiar to them and yet, at the same time it was so, so new and exciting. They kissed for a long while, her hand toying with his hair and his rubbing gentle circles into her back, but inevitably they had to pull apart to breathe, and even then they only separated by a fraction of an inch, foreheads pressed together and still wrapped up in each other and thoughts of their future.

* * *

_A/N: So there you have it, Tony asked and Pepper said yes :) Now I need opinions from YOU dear readers, help a gal out! My original plan for this story was to end it here, and let you imagine the perfect wedding ect ect ect, but I wasn't expecting such a lovely response from all of you so here's my own proposal: DO YOU WANT ME TO CONTINUE THIS STORY, GOING THROUGH TONY AND PEPPER'S LIVES ON THE LEAD UP TO THEIR WEDDING AND THE BIG DAY ITSELF? Please let me know in the reviews if you want this to keep going! :D_


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